Chapter Ten

Injuries and Emotions

Patricia cradled her arm as she entered the lounge after dinner. Spotting the blonde man on the sofa, she cleared her throat to grab his attention.

"Hey, Weasel," she used her nickname for him.

"What's up, Yacker?" Eddie grinned as he looked up at her.

"Have you seen Fabian?" Patricia asked, worry lacing her voice. "He hasn't arrived yet from the police."

"Police?" Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion. "What would he be doing there? There isn't a criminal case or something."

Realizing her friend fooled her, Patricia paled. "Shit. Bloody hell. Fu-"

"Children in the house," Eddie reminded her.

Ignoring his comment, Patricia headed for the entrance hall with Eddie hot on her heels.

"Where are you going?" Eddie glanced at his watch. It was half past ten. He wondered where the redhead could go at the time.

"I'm going to Fabian," Patricia said, putting on a coat. She looked at Eddie who was doing the same. "Don't follow me."

"But-"

"We need to be alone," she glared. She opened the front door letting cold air enter the house. "I'm serious, Miller."

Noticing the edge in her serious tone, Eddie nodded solemnly. "Will you be okay?"

Her eyes softened at the innocent question. "Yeah."

Still not content, Eddie said sternly. "I'll be waiting for both of you. If you're still not back after midnight, I'm calling the cops."

Patricia nodded, before leaving towards the darkness. Not knowing where to start, Patricia decided to go to the last place that seemed important to both Fabian and Nina, the gazebo.

The path towards the old gazebo was unlit, giving Patricia a hard time before she finally saw the glow in the middle of what seemed like a forest. In the center of the glow was a darkened figure kneeling on the marble floor.

"Fabian," Patricia released a breath she was holding but her relief was cut short when she saw a small red puddle on the floor and the tainted knuckles of her friend.

The man did nothing to acknowledge her presence and Patricia knew that the snap she had expected had already come.

"What the hell did you do?"

Fabian, with lifeless eyes, gave a pillar a quick glance and Patricia followed his gaze. She gave a gasp when she saw the cracks on the cement.

"Fabian," Patricia slowly approached the broken man, crouching beside him. "Talk to me," she begged as she wrapped her arms around him.

Fabian bowed his head, leaning towards her warmth, and let his emotions out.

Patricia cried herself as she recognized the emotion of a broken heart, having experienced it herself.

The two let the tears fall down silently. They let their emotions rule over them for a while.

"I promised," Fabian's hoarse voice sobbed. "I promise that I wouldn't love anyone else, that it will always be Nina in my heart."

Patricia's heart broke as Fabian confessed, showing the vulnerable man inside. "But Bri-"

"That woman isn't Nina," he interrupted coldly. "As long as that girl exists, Nina will never be. Nina won't come back. She's gone, Patricia."

Repeats of the last few words can be heard from him for a few more minutes, until his tears dried out.

"What will you do?" Patricia asked, after a long moment of silence.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you okay with staying at Anubis?"

"We have no choice," Fabian sighed, giving a teasing smile. "Unless you want to stay at Isis with Ben…"

"Hell no," Patricia immediately exclaimed. "Sorry, but there's something about that man that's so awful."

"I know," Fabian replied. "Anyway, that settles it. We're staying. Besides, we came here to find out the reason for this. We're going to face the problem not run from it. We're Sibuna, right?"

Patricia relaxed, realizing that Fabian was back to his rational-thinking self. "Well, are you okay now?"

Fabian nodded. "Yeah. I guess I just needed to let it all out. It's like I've had a kaleidoscope of feelings today."

"What made you punch that anyway?" Patricia motioned at the pillar.

"Like I said, it's a kaleidoscope of emotions," Fabian took a deep breath. "I was angry."

Seeing that the topic was making the man uncomfortable, Patricia stood up, motioning for the man to stand too. "Well, if you're fine then let's go back. Weasel's waiting for us."

"Weasel?"

"The daft blonde?"

Fabian looked even more confused.

"Eddie," Patricia clarified, pulling Fabian to his feet. "He's waiting for us to come back. We have 'til midnight before he calls the police. So, c'mon."

The said blonde agitated at the foot of the stairs, pacing to his hearts content. Glancing at his watch for the nth time, Eddie nearly pulled his hair out in frustration. "Less than an hour left."

His continued mutterings and footsteps were finally noticed by a redhead who came down the stares.

"Eddie," Brielle yawned as she walked towards the blonde. "What are you still doing up?"

"Patricia went looking for Fabian," Eddie explained, "and they're still not back."

"I'm sure they're fine," Brielle assured.

As if on cue, the front door opened revealing the two.

"Thank god," Eddie muttered under his breath.

"Oh my god," Brielle exclaimed at the same time. "What happened to your hand?"

"Er, I stumbled and my fists hit the wall?" Fabian lied, not able to take Brielle's worried expression despite reminding himself that she isn't Nina. "I'll be alright."

"Is this a new matching thing?" Eddie joked as he finally noticed Fabian's hands after tearing his eyes from Patricia to see if she was alright. "Couple injuries?"

"Maybe," Patricia immediately answered before Fabian can comment. "Well, we've taken enough of your time. We'll be off to bed now."

"But his hands-"

"I'll take care of it, Brie," Patricia rushed, pushing a confused Fabian towards their room. "Good night!"

Not even waiting for replies, Patricia immediately closed the door behind her. Fabian closely inspected her hand as she locked the door.

"What happened?" he asked, as he was surprised to see it bandaged heavily.

Patricia went to her bed and got a book from inside her pillow. "This happened."

Fabian was shocked to see the Book of Isis in Patricia's hands. "How did you get this?"

"It's from the old oven in the kitchen," Patricia explained. "It just opened so suddenly."

"The secret passageway?" Fabian clarified and Patricia nodded. "But, how did it open?"

"I don't know," Patricia shrugged, handing the book to the brunette. "But it closed as soon as I got this out."

"Do you think this has anything to do with Nina?" Fabian started to flip through the pages of the ancient text.

"Doubt it," Patricia rummaged her things for a first aid kit. "It's mostly potions, like the Elixir of Life."

"I wonder if we should check out the passageways," Fabian said, closing the book and placing it on the bedside table.

"We don't have the Eye," Patricia reminded. "And even if we did, we can't use it."

"But-"

"Oh, Fabian, we can do this tomorrow," Patricia interrupted. "Now, give me your hands."

Fabian grudgingly held out his hands towards Patricia who started to treat his wounds. "But, we're doing this tomorrow."

Patricia smiled, thinking of their high school days. "I can't think of anything else better to do."

AN: Whew. That was intense.

Here's a snippet of the next chapter! :)

"You kissed me!" Fabian exclaimed as soon he entered the bedroom.

"Well, don't get your knickers in a twist, love," Patricia rolled her eyes.

What do you think happened? :) Review please!